


Haunt Yourself

by Draikinator



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: ASL, M/M, Mute Link, PTSD Link, third person, we're talking about mipha and thats a sad time folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 08:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14374692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draikinator/pseuds/Draikinator
Summary: Prince Sidon is excited that his father has thrown a celebration to thank Link for his heroism, but he isn't surprised when he notices Link doesn't seem to be enjoying himself in a crowd. He pulls him aside to ask if he's okay.





	Haunt Yourself

It was truly fascinating that whether Link was facing down an unknowable evil, sword in white knuckled fist and no friends at his side or politely sipping a cocktail at his own party, he could look alone. It made Sidon’s heart beat like a drum in his gut, frustrated and sympathetic- how he longed to ease that confusing loneliness, would in anyone he met who seemed so positively isolated, but especially so in his most treasured friend.

Link had saved his people, after all. It was difficult to watch a man without whom his kingdom would surely have drowned appear so, but Sidon had never once seen him without a quiet distance in his gaze that betrayed… something, some disquiet or turmoil in his soul he had not disclosed. Sidon frowned, but the expression was unbecoming of him, and giving up was never his thing.

He crossed the room to Link, who was smiling peaceably at the back of the room beside a table of skewered fish he was sampling good naturedly, but by himself. Sidon gave him his brightest, sharpest smile. Link tilted his head up at him, bangs moist from the damp air shifting away from his eyes, and his smile widened just so.

“Link! My father was so hoping this celebration might bring you joy- it is in your honour, after all,” Sidon commented, shifting beside his friend, and he wasn’t sure if Link’s smile had faltered or if he had imagined it, “But it does not appear that you are… happy, if I may be so bold.”

Link examined the last piece of roasted fish on his skewer with a bit more attention than one might expect, before biting it off and chewing thoughtfully, blue eyes pointed forward but looking somewhere Sidon could not see.

Eventually he shrugged, and put his discarded skewer with his others on the edge of the table, raising his right hand to his chest in a loose circle, _sorry_. Link was far more casual with more common signs around Sidon, an unspoken gesture of familiarity, that he trusted his meaning to be understood without the pictograph-perfect motions he used with the few people he bothered signing to at all. Link seemed to rely more on universal gestures than anything else as far as communication went- Sidon wondered briefly if his weak communication skills were an extension of his isolation or part if its cause.

“What ever are you sorry for? I’m not accusing you of having bad manners for not being happy,” Sidon said, putting one hand on his Hylian friend’s tiny shoulder reassuringly. Link snorted, his smile becoming a little more genuine for a moment, and Sidon’s heart fluttered without his permission. “I was merely suggesting that if there is something you would rather be doing, we can do that instead.” He paused, “You could be doing that instead,” he corrected himself, self consciously.

Link’s smile twisted into a frown and he looked up at Sidon, then back at the party, then towards the far door to the balcony that overlooked the pool beneath the Domain. He stuck his thumb out, pointing toward it with a raised eyebrow.

“Did you want to step outside?” Sidon asked, cocking his head to the side, and Link nodded, stepping away from his side and toward the exit. Sidon paused for a moment, awkwardly, hands fluttering at his sides, uncertain if he was meant to go with him, but Link stopped, looked back, snorted at him and tipped his head toward the door. Sidon smiled and followed after him.

It was quieter outside, the conversation and music from the celebration dulled by ornate walls, and Link leaned over the railing of the balcony with a sigh, shutting his eyes and brushing his hair out of his face.

“Is something wrong?” Sidon asked, a bit more frank now that they were in private.

Link opened his eyes and looked back at him, then at his arms crossed on the railing, before his sighed in a particularly annoyed way and pulled off his gloves with his teeth, holding them under one armpit. He must certainly have something to say if he wanted to emphasize.

‘I should stop coming here,’ Link signed, looking away. Sidon blinked, startled.

“What? Why?”

‘This place,’ he signed, hands fluttering like he lost his train of thought, ‘too much.’ When he raised his right hand up for the sign for too much, he lost his underarm grip on his gloves and they dropped to the floor beside his feet. He scowled at them and dropped his arms, but didn’t make a move to retrieve them.

“Too much?” Sidon said, still confused, “Too much what?”

‘Everyone,’ Link signed, tilting his head back towards the muted celebration, ‘knows me. Too much feeling,’ he signed, and he looked down at his hand hovering over his chest, signing _feeling_ with gusto.

“But-” Sidon stammered, unable to understand how the Zora people knowing and remembering Link from before his long sleep could be a bad thing- “But should that not be a good thing? The Zora love you! We knew you even better than your own kind! Surely it must be nice to see familiar faces here, where you can’t anywhere else, no?”

Link gave him the strangest look, holding something absolutely incomprehensible in his expression. It drove Sidon mad wanting to understand what it could be, but he couldn’t, simply could not make it make sense. Link dropped his hands. Sidon frowned, still frustrated.

“Well-” he said, scrambling to recover, “I may not understand why that’s a bad thing, but- but we can do something to make you more comfortable here if you wish, I would surely be remiss at your absence were your visits to cease, my friend, so-”

Link ran his hand through his hair again and leaned on the railing, watching the distant waterfall. Sidon wasn’t convinced Link liked eye contact very much.

‘In this place,’ Link signed, and Sidon was glad the Hylian was so short suddenly, were they similar heights he would certainly not be at an angle where he could possibly see the man’s hands, ‘I am someone. When I leave this place,’ he paused, and Sidon wasn’t sure if he would continue, but he did, ‘I am no one. That is good.’

Sidon still didn’t understand. That didn’t seem like it would be good.

“Why do you want to be no one?” He asked, bluntly, “That seems like a terrible thing to be. I like you very much as Link.”

Link scrunched up his nose and snorted, making a breathy noise that sounded just as frustrated as Sidon was. He turned back toward him, eyes still staring decidedly somewhere around Sidon’s chest, just close enough to seem attentive but not close enough to make eye contact.

‘Link,’ he fingerspelled, rushing through the signs, ‘must save Hyrule. Link must not fail. Link must always win. Link loved Mipha,’ and Sidon was startled to see him use the Zora waterspeak sign for her name, a gesture that seemed incongruent with his deft Hylian signs, ‘Link did not save Mipha. I come here, this place,’ he gestured around himself wildly, ‘I remember I am Link. Away from this place, I forget.’

Link was panting, hands shaking like he wanted to continue, but uncertain what to say. He turned up his palms and looked at them, before casting his hands angrily downward and into loosely balled fists, before settling them against the railing again, where he rested his chin, staring pointedly at the waterfall. Sidon was quiet.

“I am sorry,” he said, finally, “I did not realize how much pressure you were under.”

Link shrugged, still avoiding his gaze.

“Do you still want to leave?”

Link didn’t respond.

“You know,” Sidon said, taking Link’s silence to be an invitation to continue, “My dear sister loved Link, not no one.” He certainly noticed his friend’s visible flinch. “You have forgotten so many things, my dear friend- you should not seek to forget yourself, as well.”

Link’s eyes softened, and he sighed. Sidon perked up- that was certainly an optimistic signal, and he pulled himself up, puffing out his chest.

“As I said before, I would be quite remiss if you were to stop visiting. You are my most dear and treasured friend, whether you are Link or not!”

Link smiled softly and rolled his eyes, brushing his bangs away from them again, moist with waterspray. He turned his back to the rail and leaned on it, absently kicking his gloves up with his boot and tucking them into his belt.

‘I don’t remember loving her,’ he signs, and it seems like a sad thing to say, but the frustration seems gone from his eyes, and for the first time, it seems like Link is really in the same room with him, and not a thousand miles away, operating some kind of puppet of himself from a comfortable distance, ‘but I know I must have. I feel guilt.’

“You did not lose your memories on purpose,” Sidon scoffed, “You have not scorned my sister’s memory by surviving her. She was- is, glad, I am certain, that you still draw breath.”

Link looked up at him, really looked at him, and it made Sidon feel all giddy inside, a guilty feeling for a man telling him about his feelings for his sister. Link tapped his hand to his chin and tilted it quickly downward, ‘Thank you.’

Link paused again, so long Sidon wondered if he had forgotten he was there, before he signed, ‘You make me happy to be Link.’ Sidon’s stomach did backflips.

“I am glad to hear it,” Sidon said, trying not to betray too much of his delight, “Have I not made it clear I think you are an incredible man? My dearest friend, I find Link to be my very favourite person.”

Link smiled, more brightly than normal, ‘My favourite person is-’ he stopped, hands hovering at his chest uncertainly, and Sidon cocked his head questioningly at him. Link looked momentarily frustrated, then pointed at Sidon somewhat aggressively, and Sidon felt his face light up bright cyan.

‘Your name what?’ Link asked, drawing his hands back to himself.

“Prince Sidon,” Sidon said, confused.

Link shook his head and reached up to take Sidon’s hands in his. His little hylian hands were warm and rough, calloused and scarred, but in a very attractive way, and he waved them pointedly. It clicked.

“Ah! The Zora sign for my name!” Sidon exclaimed, before Link nodded exuberantly and took his hands away, to Sidon’s disappointment. Sidon put his hands together, left on top of the right, and pulled his right hand away quickly. He saw Link’s hands moving absently at his side, committing it to memory, before he pulled his hands back to his chest.

‘My favourite person is _Sidon_ ,’ he said, and something about the way he signed his name with unwebbed hands was so delicious Sidon could hardly bear it.

“I wonder if, perhaps-” he said, trying to sound as confident as he would have liked to be, acutely aware of the whimsical song playing within, party forgotten, “I could kiss you?”

The widest smile Sidon had ever seen grace Link’s features cracked across his pale face, stretching white scars and brown sunspots across his cheeks, and he nodded once, decisively.


End file.
